It's a take: Children roll up for Roll Around the Block. Photo: James Boddington

A collaboration between the National Gallery of Victoria and Natalie Barnes and Kate Nelson, creators of parenting sites tiny & little and Meetoo, the event is part of the inaugural Melbourne Now Children's Festival, in turn part of the Melbourne Now exhibition, which more than 300,000 people - 10 to 25 per cent children - have so far attended. It's the biggest exhibition in the gallery's history.

The nine-day festival offers free activities for children and families, hosted by artists, designers and performers.

At the launch of Roll Around the Block on Sunday each child was asked to choose a block and take 24 images, anywhere in Melbourne.

The number paid homage to the original 24 frames on a roll of film and also ''to encourage children to consider and pause before taking each photograph,'' Ms Nelson said.

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''It's about getting out and about with the children, creating memories and exploring Melbourne and it gives the children an opportunity to be a part of Melbourne Now.''

And for the media-savvy parent there's a bonus: images uploaded to Instagram or Facebook with the hashtags #rollaroundtheblock and #melbournenow will be selected for inclusion in a rolling digital display at Community Hall, NGV International.

''We're looking for unique perspectives - they don't have to be perfectly focused. It's about the energy and the viewpoint of the child,'' Ms Nelson said.

Roll Around the Block will include just one more, two-hour workshop, at NGV International on Friday. It will invite children to transform their photographs into works of art such as paintings and sculptures.

NGV director Tony Ellwood said the festival was part of the gallery's vision to become an international leader in children's programming.

"We are pleased to announce, too, that this festival will become a permanent fixture in our summer calendar, offering children and families a new way of interacting with art and the wealth of creative practice that is on offer today,'' Mr Ellwood said.